From the Archives: Michael Desaulniers for Athlete's World

When I first saw this four page advertising insert I thought "Here's a rare glimpse into that locker room of old!" Although my club has a co-ed steam room, the days of the "co-ed" locker room are past. (It seems that I missed everything by taking up squash so late:)

What I didn't realize was that it wasn't just the groovy camaraderie of 80's squash that I was missing, it was the fact that at one time sports stores actually catered to squash players! This advert is for "Athlete's World" (a Canadian sporting good store that's still around) and it harkens back to a day when sporting good stores were a better place to go to find squash racquets and shoes than Canadian Tire. Now I bet most of you buy your racquets online. (Ed note > Shameless plug: I sell Manta racquets:)

The other thing I didn't realize about this advert was that it featured an ex number 1 in the world hardball squash player who also happens to be Canadian: Michael Desaulniers. It turns out that I've played doubles with his brother! Six degrees of cool!

If you don't know about Michael, or you think that Jonathon Power was our first squash superstar, you really need to read this 2004 article by Rob Dinerman at SquashTalk. Dood, he beat Sharif Khan when Khan was on the top of his game!

If you know anything about Michael Desaulniers please consider adding to his Wikipedia page which is a little light on content.

Another cool aspect of this historical document is the appearance of the WSPA logo. I said "WSPA" not "WISPA":) A precursor of the PSA, the World Squash Players Association never made it to the internet (Go ahead, Google them.) Classic logo though.

Got any info on the WPSA? Contact me.